Computers left behind as mobile devices win over Christmas crowd

CONSUMERS engaged in ''couch commerce'', shopping late at night with mobile phones and tablets, when the kids are asleep, increasingly drove sales last Christmas, a survey shows.

This meant shoppers were ''always on'', and only a finger stroke away from computers at work, iPhones on the train and tablets on the couch to access retail websites, search for the best offers, check prices and opening hours for stores.

Data collected by Google looking at online trends and behaviour over November, the peak time for online Christmas spending so as to ensure presents arrive under the tree in time, showed for the first time the majority of shopping-related online searches were conducted away from a traditional desktop computer.

''It all boils down to the uptake in mobile and the centrality of mobile phones to people's shopping decisions,'' said Google head of retail, Ross McDonald.

He said Google figures revealed 53 per cent of online shopping searches came from these handheld devices, such as iPhones, iPads and tablets, the first pre-Christmas period in Australia a majority of this online activity was done away from computers and laptops. ''People are moving across the day from a laptop or desktop at work to a mobile when they are on the go or a tablet in the evening,'' Mr McDonald said.